Trump Will Meet Zelenskyy Sunday, Says There's 'Good Shot' For a Peace Deal

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Dec. 27—President Donald Trump said yesterday that he will meet with NATO’s puppet dictator in Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Mar-a-Lago Dec. 28, and that he believes there is a “good shot” that a deal that could end the bloody war NATO provoked could come out of the meeting.

“Well, I think we have a good shot at it,” Trump told The New York Post in a phone call yesterday afternoon. “I think they want to do it now, and I think that Russia wants to do it. But every time one wants to do it, the other doesn’t...

“I settled eight wars, and this is the most difficult of them all. But I think we’ll get it done.”

The announcement followed two weeks of meetings with both the Ukrainians and the Russians in Miami by Trump’s negotiating team, headed by Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. Sources close to the negotiations report that Witkoff had already secured substantial compromise from both sides, especially from the Ukrainians.

Trump further affirmed his intention to speak by telephone with Russian President Vladmimir Putin in the coming days, after his discussions with the Ukrainian dictator.

Ukrainian Losses Force a Shift in Tone

Up until this latest round of meetings, a source reports, “Ukraine was acting like they could actually win the war. This is the bullshit that they were being fed by the NATO leadership, especially the British. But that was never the case, and in the last month they have suffered significant strategic losses on the battlefield, and enormous casualties. This has been Trump’s message to Zelenskyy for months, especially since the August summit in Alaska with Putin: ‘You are losing and losing badly. You don’t have any cards to play with. So let me save you and make a better deal for you than you will get militarily.’”

“This reality is now confronting the Zelenskyy clique,” the source continued. “His military leadership is urging him to make a deal, before they might have to surrender to the onrushing Russians. This is occurring as there is a dangerous escalation of the war on shipping in the Baltic, which has prompted the Russians to consider a blockade of the port of Odessa, which would further hurt the Ukrainian economy.”

There is also the question of whether Ukraine really has the means to fight on, despite the assurances from Zelenskyy that it could fight the invader to the last Ukrainian. Intelligence sources report that they no longer have trained troops to reinforce the retreating front lines and soon will not have any troops at all. And there is also the question of funds. The loudmouth Europeans had been promising Kyiv a $140 billion loan that was to be secured by seized Russian assets. But that plan blew up this week, as several nations opposed the idea of using the Russian funds held in the Clear Bank, agreeing with the Russians that this was pure, illegal theft. So the loan was far less than what was needed, and would not even fully pay government salaries nor the interest on previous loans.

Zelenskyy’s 20-Point Plan and New Concessions

The new 20-point peace plan that Zelenskyy will bring to Mar-a-Lago reflects some of this reality, and its terms were already worked on and refined by the Witkoff team. The sources say it will not be acceptable to Putin in its present form but it can be worked with, as it contains Ukrainian concessions never offered before.

While both Trump and Putin have tried to maintain a diplomatic silence on the details of discussions and any plan, that is not in Zelenskyy’s nature, and he has been promoting the plan in the media. From those reports, which can be confirmed by sources, we know that Ukraine has renounced membership in NATO, at least for the time being; that will not be enough for the Russians, who want Ukraine to never be a NATO member, additionally demanding that NATO halt its policy of eastward expansion.

We also know that Ukraine has agreed to cede territory to Russia, including the Crimea and the four oblasts that have joined the Russian Federation. Zelenskyy has spoken of creating a demilitarized free enterprise zone out of the additional territory in the Donbas the Russians have asked for. It is not known how either Trump or Putin feel about this, although the suggestion had come from the American team in discussions with the Ukrainians.

All previous discussion of territorial concessions had previously been blocked by Ukraine’s chief negotiator Andriy Yermak, who headed the Presidential Office and was Zelenskyy’s top honcho. But he was forced out of office earlier this month, the victim of the growing corruption scandal that surrounds Zelenskyy, who now says that he will bring up all concessions for a referendum vote. Sources say that to sell a peace deal, Zelenskyy may be forced to resign, or at least agree not to stand for re-election, in the vote that is to take place within 100 days of signing the accord.

Unresolved Issues: Nuclear Plant, Guarantees, and Peacekeepers

There is also the question of who would administer the Zaporozhian Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe. The plan calls for it to be jointly administered by the Russians, the Ukrainians, and the United States.

The U.S. is to provide the guaranty for the accord, although how it will do this is not specifically laid out. One thing that has been rejected by Putin is making such a guaranty resemble NATO’s Article 5, by having the U.S. Senate approve a bilateral defense treaty with Kyiv.

What is hoped for is that what is on paper is enough to make a meeting to move forward between Putin, Trump, and Zelenskyy, which would be the basis for a cessation of all hostilities that would end the war.

Which leads to a final point of contention. Zelenskyy has said that he likes the idea of a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine to police the deal; this is also supported by European NATO, with the French and British already volunteering forces for such a mission. Putin has rejected such notions as an effective NATO occupation of Ukraine.

Trump and Kremlin Caution: No Deal Until Approved

Trump was quick to point out that just because Zelenskyy has a plan of which some parts have been discussed, there is no deal. He told Politico yesterday that he’s not yet endorsing Zelenskyy’s plan.

“He doesn’t have anything until I approve it. So we’ll see what he’s got,” Trump said.

As for the Russians, they are being circumspect. “It has been agreed to continue the dialogue,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Dec. 26.